Many, many years ago, when I was just a tyke, my father taught me about budgeting.

He showed me how to list my income in one column and my expenses in the other. He carefully instructed me that if expenses are higher than income, I must write my balance total in red until I have paid my debts and can once again use black ink.

I’m wondering if a couple Town Council members and our Mayor need Dad’s lessons. They will spend $40,000 on a study regarding whether to build a swimming lagoon in Fountain Park.

Hmm. Haven’t I read, over the past couple of years about how lean our town budget has become? Haven’t we dropped positions from our town departments and piled more tasks on those officials who are still working for us? Haven’t we been unable to pave our roads and repair park benches?

Finally, I checked out a couple of Town Facebook pages for comments. I noticed hundreds of opinions and that about 75 percent of folks are calling the lagoon a bad idea. I also noticed the comments focused on two major problems.

The first is a health issue. Our Fountain sprays reclaimed water. Do we want children swimming in reclaimed water spray? Do we want to have to turn the Fountain lower to lessen the spray? Do we want our children swimming with duck excrement?

The second problem is the one Dad taught me. “Cindy, we don’t spend money on 'nice to haves' until we cover our necessities.”

Mayor Kavanagh and those Town Council members who are spearheading this project, listen to your constituents. Shelve the lagoon idea until the town is flush with cash. Remember: Father knows best.